1 Rebel offer: In a major step toward ending one of the world's longest, bloodiest insurgencies, the Kurds' jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan called Thursday for a "new era" of peace that includes an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of thousands of his fighters from Turkey. Ocalan's rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, has been waging a nearly 30-year battle against the Turkish government, seeking autonomy and greater rights. The fight has killed nearly 45,000 and the group is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its Western allies, including the United States.

2 Russian NGOs: Russian prosecutors are conducting wide-ranging checks of hundreds of nongovernmental organizations, as part of what rights activists say are President Vladimir Putin's efforts to stifle dissent and shield the nation from perceived Western influence. The inspections and searches have targeted up to 2,000 organizations since last month, said Pavel Chikov, a member of the presidential human rights council. Putin has said that some NGOs receive foreign funding to "put pressure on Russia."

3 Hezbollah trial: A Cyprus criminal court on Thursday found a Hezbollah member guilty of helping to plan attacks on Israelis on the east Mediterranean Island in a decision that could raise pressure on the European Union to reconsider its stance toward the Islamic militant group. The court in the town of Limassol found Swedish-Lebanese citizen Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, 24, guilty on five of eight charges including conspiracy and participation in a criminal organization.

4 Protest march: Supporters of late President Hugo Chavez, wielding rocks and bottles, attacked student protesters Thursday as they marched against perceived bias by Venezuela's electoral council. The attack left at least 10 students reported injured and raised tensions in a country already sharply divided ahead of next month's presidential election. The protesters were demanding the electoral council eliminate requirements that voters have their fingerprints recorded before voting and that it prevent the government from seizing television and radio airwaves to let Chavez's chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, promote his candidacy.

5 Legal abortions urged: A group representing Brazilian doctors is urging lawmakers to change the country's restrictive abortion law to allow for abortions through the first trimester. The Federal Council of Medicine says the high number of botched illegal abortions is behind the recommendation. The government estimates that some 1 million abortions occur each year in Brazil, the world's largest Catholic country. Abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, risk to the mother's life or if the fetus is brainless.

6 Angry Kiwis: Thirteen minutes into the Oscar-winning movie "Argo," CIA agent Tony Mendez asks supervisor Jack O'Donnell what happened to a group of Americans when the U.S. Embassy was stormed in Tehran. "The six of them went out a back exit," O'Donnell tells Mendez, played by Ben Affleck. "Brits turned them away. Kiwis turned them away. Canadians took them in." That's the only mention of New Zealand in "Argo," but it is rankling Kiwis five months after the movie was released in the South Pacific nation. Published interviews indicate that diplomats from Britain and New Zealand did help by briefly sheltering the Americans. Yet those interviews also indicate that both countries considered it too risky to shelter the Americans for long.